I may be dreaming here, but does anyone know if I can get the following features in a single unit to replace my stock radio/disc changer? For the sake of this discussion, don't worry about price or size (I'll make it fit!):
- Navigation - I need GPS in the car which implies a fairly large screen to show me the maps
- DVD Playback - I know that I won't be able to watch movies while driving but I also don't want to use up the only optical drive with the navigation DVD-ROM so two drives would be better than one
- MP3 Player Integration - Seems like most popular option would be iPod connections but a good line-in solution would give more flexibility. Of course by "integration" I mean being able to see and control the content from the unit, not the physical player. I so need to move past cassette adaptors and FM modulators...
- XM Radio and Traffic - Not just any satellite radio provider - I am now a diehard XM fan and I want to have their real-time traffic service integrated into the navigation system (told you this was a tall order)
- Steering Wheel Controls - My car already has this and I don't want to lose it during an upgrade. I understand that this may be handled independently of the unit which is ok.
I am not sure, but I dont think that you should have much of a problem meeting these goals. Go to www.crutchfield.com to look at products. They are great at helping to chose car audio products. I was just checking out the site and found www.crutchfieldadvisor.com. It looks like it may be very usefull.
Chuck, thanks for the tip. I just got wind of a new ly announced system from Pioneer: the AVIC-Z1. Holy crap does this thing have everything I want - its like they completely read my mind:
- GPS Nav on steriods!
- XM integration
- Bluetooth support
- large touchscreen
- iPod integration
and a 30 GB harddrive. Sweet. Doesn't come out till next Spring but I will be drooling over it at CES in Jan.